The simplicity of granny squares

My very first memory of crochet is of a little girl in school uniform sitting on the bus from school, and furiously stabbing away with a thin metal hook & cotton thread, oblivious to the stares from strangers on the bus.

I was about 12 then.  We had just learnt how to crochet in Home Economics.  Till today, my friends tease me that while everyone was struggling to crochet little chains, I had already gone on to crochet a pineapple lace tablecloth.  That memory makes me smile.  I did finish that tablecloth, and gave it to my grandmother.

Since then, I have crocheted many many things - Barbie doll clothes, coasters, more coasters, clothes, bags, even a bikini.  But the simplicity of the granny squares never fails to inspire me.  It is the most simple form of crochet, with no need to plan or count rows.  Just dip my hand into the yarn containers, pull out whatever strikes my fancy, and off I go.

In the spirit of stashbusting, I've dug out my softest cottons (and about 10 years old in my stash), and have been crocheting granny washcloths all week.  It's amazing what a little washcloth can do for your skin - my face already feels cleaner and smoother after a few uses.

I think I am back

Ok. After a brief flirtation with tumblr, I've realized that I blog for user comments (yes, shameless I know), which tumblr doesn't support. Plus it's weird that people keep reblogging stuff - maybe I'm not quite cool enough to understand that yet - but I do like to know the source of people's posts, and tumblr is very good at hiding it.

So I've found Blogger's iPhone app (it's about time, Google!) and am ridiculously excited about it.

In the meantime, I've rediscovered my love for crochet, and have been making lots of instant gratification presents.

Crochet Gift Baskets (pattern from here)

Crochet Sun Hats (made 5), modified pattern from here

Granny Square Cushion (back)

Granny Square Cushion (front)

Caitlin's Summer Hat

I decided to rip out the first bobble hat and re-do it from scratch using the 2nd ball of yarn - thankfully there was just enough to finish it off. And since precious little heads need protection from our very hot tropical sun, I modified it into a summer hat with a little brim.

Today I gave it to the (less than) 1 month old recipient, and to my amazement.. it FIT! Errr, I mean to say, (cough, cough).... based on my thorough research on baby head sizes and careful accurate measuring, of course it fit, (cough, cough), I didn't mean to imply that I simply winged it and crossed my fingers and hoped for the best.... not that at all....

So to celebrate a successful little project, I'm officially naming this Caitlin's Summer Hat, and sharing the pattern here. Word of warning though, I fudge (A LOT) when crocheting, and if the maths doesn't always work out, please be patient and throw in / take out a few stitches to suit your fancy. Or you can always email me :)

Caitlin's Summer Hat (Free Crochet Pattern by Iro Iro Knits)

Yarn : Sport / Light DK weight cotton (less than 1 ball of yarn)
Hook : Clover Size 6/0 (4mm)
Gauge : 22 sc to 4 inches

Measurements for 0-3 month old baby
Circumference @ crown = 14in
Diameter @ crown = 4.5in
Depth from top of crown to brim = 5in

Stitch description : “Bobble St” – 5 hdc in the same st, pull loop of last hdc through top of first hdc

CROWN
R1 : Starting with an adjustable crochet ring, ch1, 6 sc in ring. Pull ring to close. Join. = 6sc
R2 : ch1, 2 sc in each st, join = 12 sc
R3 : ch1, (sc in next 1 st, 2 sc in next st)*, rep* until end of round, join = 18 sc
R4 : ch1, (sc in next 2 st, 2 sc in next st)*, rep* until end of round, join = 24 sc
R5 : ch1, (sc in next 3 st, 2 sc in next st)*, rep * until end of round, join = 30 sc
R6 : ch1, (sc in next 4 st, 2 sc in next st)*, rep * until end of round, join = 36 sc
R7 : ch1, (sc in next 5 st, 2 sc in next st)*, rep * until end of round, join = 42 sc
R8 : ch1, (sc in next 6 st, 2 sc in next st)*, rep * until end of round, join = 48 sc
R9 : ch1, (sc in next 7 st, 2 sc in next st)*, rep * until end of round, join = 54 sc
R10: ch1, (sc in next 8 st, 2 sc in next st)*, rep * until end of round, join = 60 sc
R11: ch1, (sc in next 9 st, 2 sc in next st)*, rep * until end of round, join = 66 sc (diameter at crown should be around 4.5in)
(For a bigger crown size, continue increasing each row as above until desired circumference.)

SIDES
R12 – R18 : ch1, sc in each st across, join = 66 sc (for a deeper hat, increase the number of rows here accordingly)
R19 : ch2, hdc in next 4 st, bobble st, (hdc in next 5 st, bobble st)*, rep * until end of round, join.
R20 : ch2, hdc in each st across, join.
R21 : ch2, hdc in next st, bobble st, (hdc in next 5 st, bobble st)*, rep until 3 st left, hdc in remaining 3 st, join.
R22 : ch2, hdc in each st across, join
R23 : ch2, hdc in next 4 st, bobble st, (hdc in next 5 st, bobble st)*, rep * until end of round, join.

BRIM
R24 : ch1, (sc in next st, 2 sc in next st)*, rep * until end of round,
R25 : ch1, (sc in next st, 2 sc in next st)*, rep * until end of round, join
(above 2 rows create a slight ruffle at brim)
R26 : ch1, sc in each st across until end of round, join.

Pull loop through and cut. Weave in ends.

Cables & Lace Kimono Cardigan

There's no other way to say it - I'm a masochist.

My little one is due in about 5 weeks, and when that happens, I don't know if I will even have time to breathe, let alone knit. So the most practical thing to do (knitting-wise that is), would be to knit baby items, or small quick projects like hats, scarves, dishcloths.. you get the idea.

Instead, I cast on for this.

It's my biggest and most ambitious project to date - I've only ever done 1 cable project, and about 3 lace projects in my entire knitting life. Not to mention that this pattern is 10 pages (!) long, is for the 'Intermediate' knitter (I consider myself newbie-ish with a phobia for anything tough) and requires more than 1000m of yarn. All I know is, I saw the pattern, I have the yarn for it, and I cast-on. And after the first 10 rows (at which point the pattern says 'following pattern as established above), I spent another 2 hours trying to figure out which charts to follow and when.

Thankfully, the knitting itself is not tough, it was the actual interpretation of the pattern that got me freaked. So I went to the stationary shop and bought post-it flags and pasted them all over my pattern, and would painstakingly move the flags down each row whenever I worked it. If the flags should drop or anyone should move them by mistake, I will kill them.

In other less stressful knitting news, I found stray balls of yarn in my stash.. they were about 10 years old. Took 2 hours to crochet this little summer hat in a nubbly cotton yarn. It finished up so quickly and turned out so cute that I wanted to go out and buy more of that yarn (go figure).

Feeling high from my superfast hat, I started another bobble hat of my own design. As I was crocheting the third row of bobbles, I noticed that it was an entirely different shade of green from the top of the hat. Knitting 101 - pls make sure that dyelots are the same? Yeah - try telling that to stray little balls of yarn whose labels have disintegrated.

So the bobble hat sits unfinished as I try to convince myself that the yellow-ish tinge in the third row of the bobbles is actually a "design element".

Re-discovering old WIPs

Hey, lookee what I found while unpacking!!

This WIP brings back such memories... I had bought the kit while in Tokyo in Nov 2006, from this impossibly elegant yarn studio called "Mother Earth". I still recall the crisp morning autumn air as I dragged my poor husband through the streets of a suburban neighbourhood, desperately scanning for signs that scream 'YARN' to me. I had even dug up my courage to enquire (in horribly rusty Japanese) of a passerby as to where the shop was.. only to have her reply (in perfect English) "oh sorry i'm not local". Hmmm.

We finally found the quiet little storefront, tucked away in a corner. The soft tinkling of the bell as I opened the wooden door, the comforting smell of lavender & rose oils in the air, and the subdued, mellow shades of cones and cones of natural-dyed yarn adorning an entire wall; awakened all my senses. This was and still is yarn heaven for me.

Needless to say, I did major damage there, and in the process, horribly shocked the soft-spoken owner when I nearly bought entire cones of yarn off the wall. She actually refused some purchases. My favourite was the scarf kit above that is made up of little crochet motifs. The center of each motif uses yarn naturally dyed from the Sakura plant, and the edges are in a whisper-light mohair. The colors go together so harmoniously and the motifs come out so delicately that I recall thinking to myself that I will never use big needles or bright colors ever again... such was the influence of that shop experience.

And in case u think I made up such a shop...

Rowan Tapestry Scarf + more scarves

I've been fiddling around with the camera set-up so don't yet have pics of my works-in-progress (WIPs) to show. At any rate I have not yet learnt how to take a decent wip photo...

This is a crochet granny square scarf done using Rowan Tapestry in Potpourri, the colors remind me of the crisp air & soft glow of autumn. Still about 1.5 balls of Tapestry left so I may use it for a pair of Fetching gloves..... so that I match when I travel & dont look so errrm 'touristy'? Actually why is it that whenever I go overseas I never look like the locals and always stick out like a sore thumb? Will matching scarfs & gloves help I wonder?



At any rate, this is what I'm currently going ga-ga over on Flickr :

Chevron Scarf in Koigu KPPPM (yes I know I'm slow getting on the bandwagon)
Rib Scarf in Noro (brooklyntweed does a killer combination)

Someday I will have a whole drawer supply of gorgeous koigu and noro scarves, all prettily done up, waiting for my next trip overseas. In the meantime I can only stare at websites like these and maybe they will reward me for staying so long at their site & give me some free yarn?

Yeah, rite.

Crochet Bucket Hat & Bag

Pattern : Self-designed, August 2006
Yarn :
Four Seasons Cotton Quick in Fushcia, 1 and ½ balls (main body & base of bag)
Four Seasons Miami in Lilac, ½ ball (handles & big flower)
Scrap Yarn in Light Pink (small flower)
Hook : Clover Crochet Hook Size 5/0

Cost of Yarn : S$15; Cute smile on model's face : Priceless.